New Oklahoma Abortion Law Would Publish Abortion Details Online

Not able to overturn Roe V Wade, the “more holies” are stepping up their intimidation tactics another notch…. with a new law in Oklahoma taking effect on November 1 (see the entire law in PDF format) taking aim at women and the health care professionals. Part of the document contains a ten page, very detailed and personal questionnaire that would be published online. I read the entire questionnaire and was furious by the time I reached the end, there are 38 questions alone regarding the reasons a woman is seeking an abortion, check all that apply….

And yeah, it is to be published online, all in the name of the “Statistical Reporting of Abortions Act”.

The details of your abortion online?

As if women didn’t have enough threats to their right to choose in this country, Oklahoma is doing its part to make sure women slowly but surely are demonized and criminalized for their right to choose to have an abortion.

If you live in Oklahoma, I officially extend my condolences.

H.B 1595 is a new provision on Oklahoma abortion laws that now requires, among other restrictions and requirements, an official record and reporting system of all abortions occurring within the state. This report will be available for anyone in the world to view, as it will be made public on a website as of March 1st. The Dept of Health, who among others has supported these new provisions, has declared that since the name and “personal information” will not be reported, there is no cause for concern or protest in regards to privacy issues. However, in reviewing the actual text of the law, the first 8 questions that will be asked and reported could easily be used to identify any member of a smaller community.

1. Date of abortion
2. County in which abortion performed
3. Age of mother
4. Marital status of mother
(married, divorced, separated, widowed, or never married)
5. Race of mother
6. Years of education of mother
(specify highest year completed)
7. State or foreign country of residence of mother
8. Total number of previous pregnancies of the mother
Live Births
Miscarriages
Induced Abortions

Oklahoma is not OK. This law is clearly part of the relentless assault upon Roe v Wade. It is punitive, stigmatizing and intimidating to women, often teenagers, who have an unintended pregnancy and the health care professionals who provide legal abortions. That in itself is no surprise-none of the current health care reform bills provide federal funds for abortions- and nobody with a spine is taking that one on.

What should be surprising is the utter hypocrisy of the conservatives who have been frothing at the mouth over the intrusion of GOVERNMENT into our lives. Death panels! Get the government out of my medicare!

A uterus, however is fair game for government intrusion. “At least half of American women will experience an unintended pregnancy by age 45, and, at current rates, about one-third will have had an abortion.” For the conservatives, this is clearly a moral issue and it’s just fine with them to anoint the State as the moral police. God would no doubt approve. (They did a particularly fine job with this when it came to Terry Schiavo. Remember? )

The relationship between poverty and unintended pregnancies plays no part in the conservative moral narrative. “The abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level ($9,570 for a single woman with no children) is more than four times that of women above 300% of the poverty level (44 vs. 10 abortions per 1,000 women). This is partly because the rate of unintended pregnancies among poor women (below 100% of poverty) is nearly four times that of women above 200% of poverty* (112 vs. 29 per 1,000 women.”

The conservative hypocrisy continues. The current Senate health reform bill provides funding for abstinence only sex education. Oklahoma ranks 21st in teen pregnancies. Does this sound like a rational way to reduce the number of abortions performed?

About 40% of teenage girls who become pregnant before they are 18 do not graduate from high school. It is not hard to see how the cycle of poverty is closely related to unintended pregnancies, particularly among teenagers. But, as the conservatives remind us, poverty is not their moral issue.

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